Ray Of Light
by mangachick1
Summary: Sakura has been captured during the Fourth Shinobi War. Her captor...Uchiha Sasuke. centric-fic
1. I am Strong

**I Am Strong**

Darkness.

A silent, frigid darkness. Her body throbbed from the barest amounts of chakra running through her system. A limbs were mostly numb even after trying futilely to circulate the blood towards them.

If she ever got out of their she doubted she would be able to even walk.

Every time she breathed a rattling echoed in her chest, constricting her throat as something metallic boiled at the back of her throat. Not mentioning the slithering knife like pain that sharpened once ever few breaths, she had no doubt that a few ribs were broken.

Presumably six ribs were broken and a couple snapped in two places she was lucky they hadn't pierced anything though if she didn't attend to them soon, they were unlikely to heal probably and that would be problematic.

If not including incredibly painful.

Blinding bright white light pierced through the dark and she turned from it instinctively as her eyes readjusted. As she blinked several times to clear her eyes she turned to the light suspiciously, noticing the light widening as the door was fully opened.

She growled as she finally heard the ambled footsteps of her captor. She steeled her resolve, she already could guess who would enter, if she was even worth his time, that is.

And true to her thoughts, Uchiha Sasuke entered the tension piling in her throat as she noticed the darkness permitting from him. His shoulders were set stiffly into would should have been a relaxed position and his once alluring eyes were covered underneath a layer of fatigued and decay as if his actual soul had molded into something less then human.

"Sasuke…" Was this really the boy she had a flickering crush for? For all he had done, she still remembered him way back when and thus she knew it was possible. She wanted him to be happy, happier than he was, than he had been. It had taken much thought but she believed that was why she had liked him. Because he had the abilty to better then all of them but at the same time his disability, his pain, was what made him human.

Now she wondered if there was any shred of humanity left.

There had to be, right?

She knew him better then most, with any luck, would she be able to crack his shell? As soon as the idea became she dismissed it, swallowing as thickly as she allowed herself with her injuries as he came closer, she hadn't been able to get him to open up to him before. Why would after so much more had been crumbled beneath him and set upon his shoulders would it be any easier?

He was silent as he stared at her with those sharp eyes, though there was something so dull in their depths as if he had no energy to continue with what he was doing but was being held to do it. Prisoner to his own will, her heart yearned to comfort him but the anger ever present in his gaze stilled her.

"You are weak." Her jaw tightened as she felt the familiar prickle at the back of her eyelids, the pure conviction in his tone was painful as if it was an observation, a fact, barely worth admitting.

She shook her head lightly, staring at the light still glowing from the semi-open doorway. "No, I'm strong, Sasuke…" Her eyes lifted to meet his own, searching for any understanding, some empathy, some realization. "I may not be the most powerful person…but I am strong. I may not be able to understand what you've been through Sasuke, but that doesn't mean I can't try." Her eyes flickered towards Sasuke, amused lightly by the crimson Sharingan whirling in his eyes; a small smile laced her lips.

"Your still pitiful little Uchiha Sasuke."

His eyes widened momentarily, a large reward before came the punishment even so she wasn't scared. Indifferent, glad perhaps that she had finally been able to express herself even if it put her on the list of the endless sleeping. Her fate was sealed the moment she was captured.

All he did to her would only open Naruto's eyes, that this wasn't the same Sasuke, this Sasuke was capable of things unthinkable. No matter how much they wanted him to be the same broody Gennin and hopefully, he would finally understand what needed to be done.

"You're going to die here, Sakura." A chill ruffled the small hairs upon her arms and exposed leg, seeping into her into her hollow feeling bones. The clench on her jaw tightened; stretching the muscle working harshly she forced herself to stare him straight on and looked down her nose at him as best as she could from her lack of height.

"No, Naruto will come for me and beat you and kill that masked freak you're following like some foolish pawn..." His hand shot out from clenching quickly on her throat, she hadn't accepted him to react so violently and she chocked on her air, tugging on her wrist chains even though she knew it was futile and shook her head trying to maneuver her chin to touch her collarbone to protect her vital airway. "Y-ou don't t..think you-'ll be…ach…" She choked as she tried clenching the muscles in her neck to protect herself further but it was futile on his tense grip. "…a-ble t-o…wi-n…"

She doubted sand would be able to escape from his grip. Each taught muscle in his fingers were bruising her neck furiously clashing with her own and it, _god damn_, it was painful.

Her vision blurred as seconds passed to excruciatingly long minutes, her breath nothing but a raspy screech. He was slowly choking her. Even though he believed that she would perish there, she would not take that lying down so she shuffled back as much as she could even though it plopped her shoulders into harmful positions and tried once more futile to escape his clawing hand.

Finally gaining some length in the chains connected to her ankle she tried kneeing him in a place sensitive for him. She missed as he stepped back leaving her to crumble as she felt feint but she forced herself awake to stare at his decaying glare. "You're pathetic." He stated.

She grinned as much as she could, her breath slithering between her teeth. "I'm strong."

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><p><strong><em>AN. Maybe there will be more, maybe not. I just wanted to upload this._**


	2. Shaken Certainty

**Shaken Certainty**

He was uncertain.

Even as he throttled his once teammate, her words meant to enlighten him, was lost for he was already aware of his predicament. She was just foolish enough to believe that he was blind to it.

No. He saw more then they ever would.

"You're pathetic." He informed her sharply, waiting for those tears to spring from her eyes though all he received was an oddly absent gaze, amusement flickering across her lips.

"I'm strong." He felt deep rage burn his body, even if, he was mostly immune to a further dose and he unclenched his fingers with effort watching uncaringly as she slumped and curled with her chokes.

_It wasn't supposed to be like this_, something stubborn persisted at the back of his mind before a weight settled on his chest once more as the childish voice vanished.

This was how it was meant to be, he told himself, Konohagakure was weak and would rue the day they crossed such an unbreakable boundary. "I've realized…"

The raspy voice said to him, piercing emerald eyes glancing up at his blank features. "I've realized why you were so distant," His eyes narrowed momentarily, still flashing crimson. "You were scared." She uttered, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

All the gushing emotion he forced to oblivions, not accepting another break in composure. "You had lost everything dear to you…" She glanced at him with a clinical interest. "And was left alone to fend for yourself, you believe that everyone close to you will die because no one proved you wrong."

Something oddly bright flashed in his chest warningly, a strange prick to the back of his eyes momentarily surprised him. He blinked them back, averting his gaze to the chains knobs on the wall noticing that somehow his Sharingan had receded.

His heart pounded dully inside his hollow chest and wondered absently if that was really why he had been how he had, if that was something he still thought to that day. The notion of her words fit snuggly to what he had been, he decided, but he was no longer that person. Bringing up his prior state of mind was foolish, he commented condescendingly, but even so it had captured his interest for longer then anything had in a while – other than his revenge, of course.

"You're annoying." The words floated from his lips before he could halt them and he noticed the amusement dancing on those cupid bow lips once more.

"Thank you." She told him genuinely, as if understanding what she had caused and she rearranged her limbs so her back was against the cool wall behind her, feet outstretched before her incapable of folding them due to her binds.

She seemed to be waiting for something; nothing came to mind, his mind was void of anything for the first time in a long time. He swallowed, bowing his head, she was doing it once again, he mused, making him forget everything he set out to accomplish. She hadn't changed, no matter how much she was more confident in her so-called abilities, she still had the same effect on him at it humbled him at the same time as angered him.

So he left, unwilling to be in her presence any longer, he did not fear what she could to him but he was _aware_ that she could weaken him, so he would keep his distance.

He had no orders, no reason for him to see her but he had been persuaded somehow to visit her, unsure on what he would find.

In no time he was back in the light of day but no matter how he wished his thoughts to return to how they had been, her words had affected him somewhat. It meant he wasn't immune and he was still weak.

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><p>It was weeks later that he found himself in her dingy cell, she did not acknowledge him, merely stared unseeingly at the darkest corner of her cell, obviously occupied. It ruffled his feathers, he had to admit, to not be fondled over and notice that even if she insisted she had changed, he still expected certain things from her.<p>

He shouldn't expect anything from her. He had left the traitorous Konohagakure; he was set on destroying the village she loved loyally.

It been a while since he had really taken into account how a prisoner were treated, nearly three years, he mused, whence he first witnessed Orochimaru's experiments. He had not bothered to check if she was given any fitting substance, but then again…why should he care?

She was a liability, a continuous nuisance.

He glared at her, knowing that his inner turmoil was her fault, he had been an immune, unbreakable force of nature but ever since she had arrived he had began doubting himself. "You're pitiful." He glanced surprised at her words, anger bubbling beneath the surface but he could not deny he was intrigued.

She shot him a broken smile. "You force yourself to carry on with your revenge, you're exhausted," He studied her, noticing how she licked her chapped lips anxiously, dirt splattered over her dainty features. "You doing it out of misplaced self duty," Her smiled widened as she observed his clenched fists. "You don't want revenge."

Her certainty, burned a hole at the back of his throat, the mere thought of _how dare she say that to me_ blazing to life behind his eyes. Then, once more, was that flashing white brightness in his chest and he suddenly realized what it was.

Recognition.

He denied it; his sense of self was attached too firmly to his revenge. It was all he could count on and trust.

Once more, he had been ensnared momentarily by her words, disgust curling his lips but what angered him further was that he was disgusted at himself and in no way did it ensnare Sakura in its grasp.

"You are deluded," He murmured, unwillingly to admit that she had hit any sensitive marks. "The likes of you will never understand me." He saw her disappointment, and it boiled something in his chest, crescent moons biting into his palms from his clenching.

She turned away from him, flopping a thin hand over her lap so the chains rattled loudly; he noticed her scowl and perversely took pleasure in seeing the inflicted boundaries.

With nothing left to say or do, he left.

He hated her, he realized, because she had done what no one had done in a long time. To shake his foundations and it left him feeling oddly weak.

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><p><em><strong><span>AN. I've realized that to write Sakura I have to have confidence and to write Sasuke I have to loss some of my confidence by a crappy day at school…it's interesting to say the least, that I hadn't noticed it before how my writing has changed since I started growing into my own skin.**_

_**Huh, odd.**_

_**Anyhow, I haven't got anything else planned but who knows, maybe there'll be more.**_

_**Review!**_


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